Just when we thought the global warming climate change insanity couldn't get any worse comes the news of the...are you ready for this?...Toilet Paper Tax! That's right folks! Our brilliant law-makers have not had enough fun yet taxing you to death through the cap-n-tax bill and they are now introducing legislation to tax toilet paper...I kid you not! The following is the "Fact Sheet for H.R. 3202" submitted by Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon with the appropriate part high-lighted:
H.R. 3202 - THE WATER PROTECTION AND REINVESTMENT ACT
REP. EARL BLUMENAUER
Original Co-sponsors: LaTourette (R-OH), Dicks (D-WA), Simpson (R-ID), Petri (R-WI)
THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION:
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has given our nation’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure a grade of “D-” in their 2009 report card. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s most recent Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis estimates a $534 billion gap between current investment and projected needs over the next 20 years. Last year alone, American communities suffered more than 240,000 water main breaks and saw billions of gallons of overflowing combined sewer systems, causing contamination, property damage, disruptions in the water supply, and massive traffic jams. According to ASCE, an average of six billion gallons of potable water is lost per day in the US because of leaky pipes. This is enough to fill nearly 9,091 Olympic-sized swimming pools!
THE TRUST FUND:
Our nation’s water infrastructure needs have grown while federal funding for clean water has declined. While the needs are estimated to be over $25 billion a year, appropriations for water infrastructure have averaged just over $2.3 billion a year since 2000. This pushes more and more costs on local governments and ratepayers, whose rates have grown at twice the rate of inflation in recent years. We need new sources of revenue to meet our communities’ water infrastructure and environmental restoration needs. Similar dedicated funding is available for our nation’s transportation systems – it’s time to establish a trust fund to finance water infrastructure.
A Water Protection and Reinvestment Trust Fund, funded by those who contribute to water quality problems and those who use our water systems, will provide a deficit-neutral, consistent and protected source of revenue to help states replace, repair, and rehabilitate critical drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities.
THE REVENUE SOURCES:
The Water Protection and Reinvestment Act would assess a number of small taxes on a broad base of those who use water and contribute to water pollution. The taxes are designed to be collected at the manufacturer level, so any increased costs to consumers will be minimal. These revenue sources were analyzed in a recent Government Accountability Office report and are expected to raise at least $10 billion a year.
• 4 cent per container excise tax on water-based beverages. These products rely on drinking water as their major input and result in both increased flows and increased waste in our waters.
• 3% excise tax on items disposed of in wastewater, such as toothpaste, cosmetics, toilet paper and cooking oil: These products wind up in the water stream and require clean up by sewage treatment plants.
• 0.5% excise tax on pharmaceutical products. Pharmaceutical residues found in our nation’s water bodies are an increasing concern for clean and drinking water utilities. A small fee on the industry will support efforts to prevent pharmaceuticals from entering water systems and research into remediation.
• 0.15% tax corporate profits over $4 million. All corporations use drinking and wastewater infrastructure and depend on it functioning to conduct their business. A similar tax was used to fund the Superfund program until it expired in 1995.
HOW IT WOULD WORK:
Clean Water Act Funding: Almost half of the funding would be distributed as grants and loans through the existing Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (CWSRF). These funds are grants used to capitalize state funds, which then provide loans to publicly owned treatment works for wastewater treatment construction to meet CWA requirements and provide sewage services. The CWSRF would be modernized, consistent with recent legislation passed by the House. The bill would provide additional incentives for green infrastructure and water efficiency as well as provide funding for state efforts to prevent and control pollution. It would require states to provide some of the funding in the form of grants. Additional assistance would be made available for technical assistance to small wastewater treatment facilities.
Safe Drinking Water Act Funding: Over one-third of the funding would be distributed as loans through the Safe Drinking Water Act State Revolving Loan Fund (DWSRF). Similar to CWSRF funds, these are used by states to provide loans to public water systems for expenditures to facilitate compliance with drinking water regulations and to protect public health. Changes would be made to modernize the DWSRF and provide technical assistance to small communities consistent with the recent authorization passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. In addition, funds would be targeted towards larger systems with the worst infrastructure problems. Additional incentives for environmental and fiscal sustainability would be added.
Additional Programs: The remaining funding would support a number of new programs, including:
• Security Upgrades: Grants to states, municipalities, publicly owned treatment works, and community drinking water systems for capital projects to increase security to update a vulnerability assessment, emergency response plan, or site security plan required under the SDWA or any other applicable law. This will help offset the costs of new security requirements currently under consideration in House committees.
• Climate Change and Adaptation: Grants to support efforts by water systems to take actions to increase energy and water efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, an increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.
• Sewer Overflow Control: Funding for an existing program to help states and local communities address sewer overflows This is a growing problem in which untreated sewage is released into the environment, contaminating our nation’s waters, degrading water quality and exposing humans to viruses and other pathogens that can cause serious illness. The EPA estimates that more than 850 billion gallons of untreated wastewater and stormwater are released each year into U.S. waters.
• Research, Development, and Technology Demonstration: A new research program within the EPA to develop, demonstrate, and transfer innovative or improved technologies and methods for the treatment, control, transport, and reuse of drinking water and wastewater. It would also create a new system of regional university research centers, based on the successful transportation research centers, to conduct strategic research, education, and outreach for sustainable management of water resources.
• Workforce Development: Funding for existing programs under the CWA and SDWA to provide support for operator training, undergraduate and graduate environmental engineering and natural sciences to ensure that a stable labor force exists to operate and manage water and wastewater treatment utilities.
• Drug Take-Back: A new competitive grant program to support state, local, tribal, and non-profit drug take-back programs to help reduce the presence of pharmaceuticals in water.
• Cost of Service Study: The National Academy of Sciences would study the means by which public water systems and treatment works meet the costs associated with operations, maintenance, capital replacement, and regulatory requirements. This will help the EPA, Congress, and water facilities determine what new approaches might assist in meeting water needs.
THE WATER PROTECTION AND REINVESTMENT ACT WILL:
• Protect public health by providing the funding communities need to provide safe drinking water and sewer service.
• Restore the environment by providing incentives for green infrastructure that reduces energy use and withstands the impacts of global warming.
• Create jobs by investing in projects to repair and replace aging systems. A $10 billion investment would create between 200,000 and 267,000 new jobs in engineering, construction and other industries.
• Reduce pollution by decreasing the number and severity of combined sewer overflows, increasing funds for state environmental restoration efforts and reducing the amount of pharmaceuticals in our water supply.
THE WATER PROTECTION AND REINVESTMENT ACT IS SUPPORTED BY:
• National Association of Clean Water Agencies
• American Rivers
• Clean Water Action
• Associated General Contractors
• American Society of Civil Engineers
• Water & Sewer Distributors of America
• Rural Community Assistance Partnership
• Coalition for Alternative Wastewater Treatment
• American Public Works Association
• National Utility Contractors Association
No comments:
Post a Comment